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The Eponym Dictionary of Birds (3 Viewers)

5. Lewis’s Woodpecker Merriwether or Meriwether . Mr. Jobling gets it right. But Eponym Dictionary is not the only one to make this mistake. "the Tennessee legislature with that facility for blundering which seems an inevitable characteristic of Tennessee legislature at all periods inscribed his tombstone Merriwether"
 
If Wikipedia is correct as indicated by Björn thread #22 the date of birth on HBW Alive needs correction. Neverthless I totally agree with Mearns review on The Eponym Dictionary of Birds. Especially...

The main drawback is the lack of references for individual entries, an addition that would have turned a good book into a great one, and could have been achieved without doubling the page count.

Sometimes it helps just to search for the original descriptions to get the right person (but sometimes as discussed here more difficult to get the mister or misses right).
 
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If Wikipedia is correct as indicated by Björn thread #22 the date of birth on HBW Alive needs correction.
I have no opinion in this matter (Mr. von Gebler is not one of "my guys"). I just noted the disparity, that all the other Wiki-pages (Ukranian, Bulgarian and Finnish, I think it is) also state his birth to (15 December) 1781.

If right or wrong I do not know.
 
Maybe this is a Julian vs Gregorian situation? I think that Germany was 11 days ahead of Russia in 1781/2 Not quite enough December 26. My family was odd they celebrated the anniversery of our baptism. In the Mearns review he mentions that Tragopan hastingii was not dealt with. HBWAlive says it is named for Warren Hastings Governor of Bengal. This makes emminant sense. He was close friends with Justice and lady Impey. Thomas Hardwicke of Illustrations of Indian Zoology testified at his impeachment and was on a committee that had a statute made of him after Hastings died. The name comes from Vigor from birds collected by Franklin in India. I can not make a connection to Hastings with them although Franklin was a member of the light cavalry in Bengal but much later. Also it is not hastingsii but hastingii. Is the last s often ignored? There is nothing in the OD that mentions Warren Hastings. Just wondering . 6. "Great Egret has been known as Queen Victoria’s Egret" . Well in 1842 MacGillivray named a Great Egret specimen Erodius victoriae. He thought it was a new species but was wrong. "I propose naming it after our most gracious Queen". https://books.google.com/books?id=DdFDAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false . Page 134.
 
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Tragopan hastingii JARDINE 1834

Mark, you´re perfectly right, there´s no second s in hastingii, OD here, with plates.

And below, the plate of the male in full colour [i.e. today's Tragopan melanocephalus GRAY 1829].
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As as well the Eponym of Birds was reviewed in fact the Swedish physician and botanist
Johan Peter Falck is written wrong with a c. Correct seems to be Johan Peter Falk as mentioned by Hartert here or e.g. in first Vol of Falk here.
 
William Velmala apparently doesn´t know his subject, and he doesn´t seem to know of the HBW Alive Key!

Except Alexander von Nordmann we also have, for example; Mr. Odo Reuter (not listed by Beolens et al), Mr. Albert Collin ("English" by Beolens et al) and the supposedly Finnish Mr. G. G. Gadd ("Finnish" according to Beolens et al , and James [not by me], but Mr. Velmala obviously missed him totally!).

Looks like he just read the book and swallowed it undigested. It´s easy to write a review not questioning the content!

Björn

PS. Martin, Falck is correct! (here). This time Hartert´s wrong. ;)
 
PS. Martin, Falck is correct! (here). This time Hartert´s wrong. ;)
He certainly signed "Joh. P. Falck" in his letters to Linnaeus (eg, [here]). Yet, Hartert 1917 was not really "wrong" either, as his name is certainly spelled "Johann Peter Falk" in the 1786 work that he was discussing.
Of course, there is absolutely nothing "unlikely, even peculiar," in the fact "that the Central Asian subspecies falki of Chukar was named after the Swedish physician and botanist Johan Peter Falck – almost 150 years after his death." Hartert found that the name kakelik, then in use for this taxon in the Russian literature and authored by "Falk" 1786 was not acceptable, so he named the taxon after the presumed original describer. This is fairly standard practice.
 
I agree to Laurents comment. The cover page of the book indicates Falk. But maybe a german version of the last name.
 
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Remember that Beyträge zur Topographischen Kenntniss des Russischen Reichs was published post mortem, not strictly by Falck himelf, but compiled and published (in German) by the Pommeranian Naturalist Johann Gottlieb Georgi (1729–1802,) based on Mr. Falck's notes and collections.

Noteworthy here, in this matter, is the last sentence, in brackets (below) from the detailed entry of Johan Peter Falck, in the very reliable Dictionary of Swedish National Biography (link in Post #31), following Falck's suicide (he tried to cut his throat with a knife, failed, picked up a gun hidden in his sick bed and shot himself in the head!):
F:s begravning ombesörjdes av Georgi, som skickade hans naturaliesamlingar, manuskript och böcker m. m. till vetenskapsakademien i S: t Petersburg. För bearbetning och publicering överlämnade denna anteckningarna och samlingarna till den i Finland födde Erik Laxman, som hade gjort vidsträckta forskningsresor i Sibirien och nu var professor i ekonomi och kemi vid akademien. Han åtog sig uppgiften men hade 1780, då han blev bergsråd i östra Sibirien, ej börjat arbetet. Akademien lämnade då uppdraget åt Georgi, som på ett berömvärt sätt skilde sig från detsamma genom utgivandet av »Beyträge zur Topographischen Kenntniss des Russischen Reichs» (tre band i kvartoformat, 1785—86) av Johann Peter Falk (endast undantagsvis användes i boken den riktiga stavningen Falck).
Meaning something like: "F:s [Falck's] funeral was handled by Georgi, who sent his Natural collections, manuscripts and books, etc, to the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. To process and publish they handed over the notes and collections to the Finnish-born Erik Laxman, who had done extensive research travels in Siberia and now was Economy and Chemistry Professor at the Academy. He undertook the task but had in 1780, when he became a Mining Councelor in Eastern Siberia, not yet begun the work. The Academy then left the mission to Georgi, who in a praiseworthy manner released himself from the same by publishing the »Beyträge zur Topographischen Kenntniss des Russischen Reichs» (three volumes i quarto format, 1785—86) by Johann Peter Falk (only rarely was the real spelling Falck used in the book)."

And it´s nothing odd. In those days there were no true consensus, no established rules, on grammar or how to spell things. It varied. A lot. At least here in Scandinavia. Even our dear Linnaeus could spell the same (trivial) word differently, in the same text, even on the same page!

Cheers!

Björn

PS. His father was Peter Falck, not Peter Falk (and most certainly not Lt. Columbo) ;)
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barbaritoi

Here is another example where the authors of Eponym Dictionary of Birds failed and did not look at OD otherwise they wouldn't give dedication barbaritoi to Xaviero Barbarita. HBW Alive shows the correct person.
 
As I came across Hartlaub entry in The Eponym Dictionary of Birds and have some serious doubts on:

He also founded the Journal für Ornithologie with Cabanis.

Cabanis is the only editor of the first and many other volumes of JfO here. As well in Cabanis obituary it is clearly written here:

... entschloß sich Cabanis im Jahr 1853 zur Herausgabe des Journals für Ornithologie.

Hartlaub is mentioned a little bit earlier...

Cabanis und Hartlaub, und ihnen sich anschließend Prinz Max zu Wied, jene drei Gelehrten, die damals in Deutschland fast ausschließlich exotische Ornithologie betrieben.

...but this sentence does not mean that he is a founder of the journal. Of course he may have had an interest in an international orientated journal (other than the parallel existing Naumania focused on Germany/Europe only) but this does not mean that he was the founder of the journal.

I think another example the book is wrong.
 
Mr. Higham's Pheasant Coucal ... and the "Dictionary"

Let´s have a look at yet another obscure Eponym supposedly claimed as solved (at least partly) by Beolens et al ... this time regarding:

highami as in:
• the subspecies Centropus phasianinus highami MATHEWS 1922 (here) as "Polophilus phasianinus highami" ... no dedication, nor explanation.

According to the Eponym Dictionary of Birds (2014), as well as today's HBW Alive Key (!), this Eponym commemorate the British Bird Photographer and aviculturist "Walter Ernest Higham (fl.1936)" ... [i.e. Walter E. Higham, W.E., F.I.B.P., F.R.P.S, M.B.O.U., F.Z.S., he´s the Author of several Bird Photo books, no years found], but I´m not at all convinced it does!

The "Type" was "brought back from Australia by Mr. Tom Carter" (according to Mathews) "Collected on Glenflorrie, Ashburton River, Mid-West Australia", but Johnstone, Burbidge, & Darnell 2013 (here, p.400) gives us the additional info:
The type specimen of this subspecies was collected by J.B. Higham on Glenflorrie Station on 4 Sept. 1921.
Once again I think we´be been led astray by the Eponym Dictionary of Birds!
Now I´m truly getting fed up with this far, far too often erroneous book. Sigh!

However, also see the News and Notes pages in Stray Feathers 54, 1954, here:
The Governor in Executive Council has appointed Mr. J. B. Higham, of Narrogin, as a Member of the Committee for the unexpired term of the late Major H. M. Whittell. Mr. Higham has been a member of the R.A.O.U.[*] for many years. He accompanied the late Tom Carter on his last collecting trip through the south-west.
To me it sure looks like J. B. Higham is the guy!

Who he was? I haven´t got a clue!

Any of our Australian friends that can fill in the gaps?

And don´t hesitate to prove me wrong!

Björn
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*R.A.O.U. = Royal Australian Ornithologists Union
 
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I believe I was led astray by Whittell, 1954, The Literature of Australian Birds, p. 338. Key entry corrected. Serenity reigns. Merry Christmas and an eventful 2017 to all those who have contributed to this forum, and who continue to make the Key authoritative and up-to-date.
 
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